New Jersey, NJ (KP) – The New Jersey state senate unanimously passed a resolution sharply condemning the state sponsored genocide of Sikh in 1984, highlighting that this horrific tragedy should never be forgotten by the Sikh community.
The resolution was sponsored by Senator Stephen M Sweeney and highlighted the important role the Sikhs have played New Jersey and the United States for over 100 years.
Copies of the resolution will be presented to US President Joe Biden as well as Vice-President Kamala Harris, and to forwarded to the majority and minority leaders of the United States Senate, the speaker and minority leader of the United States House of Representatives, and every member of Congress elected from New Jersey.
“…government and law enforcement officials organized, participated in, and failed to intervene to prevent the killings”
The resolution stated that “the Sikh genocide began on November 1, 1984, after the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in New Delhi and the states of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Maharashtra.”
“…thousands of Sikh women, who were forced to bear mass rape and witness the hacking, burning, and murder of their husbands, fathers, and sons”
The report noted that similar resolutions were passed by the California State Assembly on April 16, 2015, and the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on October 17, 2018, both declaring the anti-Sikh violence of 1984 as genocide.
State Sponsored Genocide and Impunity
The resolution further states that “Eyewitnesses, journalists, and human rights activists have compiled evidence showing that government and law enforcement officials organized, participated in, and failed to intervene to prevent the killings through direct and indirect means…”
“…recently as 2011, mass graves have been discovered in the villages of Hondh Chillar and Pataudi in Haryana, and many more will continue to be discovered in the future with Indian government officials and police flouting impunity…”
“…The “Widow Colony,” the Tilak Vihar neighborhood in New Delhi, still houses thousands of Sikh women, who were forced to bear mass rape and witness the hacking, burning, and murder of their husbands, fathers, and sons, and who are still calling for justice against the perpetrators…”
Full text of the New Jersey Senate Resolution:
